Recommendations from our site
“I’d advise readers to sit with this book, sit and breathe, as we might sit and breathe with a Book of Hours. The story is tense and full-bodied – you want to know what happens. At the same time, with the skill of a weaver, Francesca Kay depicts the passing seasons, both natural and liturgical, without fanfare but with much beauty. Drawn into the little rural community, the reader also witnesses the building of a chantry, that is, a chapel endowed by the founder to pray for his or her soul, or the souls of others ‘in perpetuum.’ The poignancy of building a chantry in the religiously perilous sixteenth century!” Read more...
The Best Historical Fiction of 2025
Katharine Grant, Historical Novelist
